Wednesday, December 06, 2006


I took a picture of this kid and his alpaca llama, thinking "how cute, how innocent, how pastoral". The first words out of his mouth were "dame una propina" or "give me a tip". The train 'em young here. If you take a pic of anyone, they are all going to ask you for money. Cuzco has so much to offer and see, you could stay here for months. But the people are so used to tourists, and to most of them, you are just a $$$ sign. Would have been cooler to have been here about 25-30 years ago. And being white and 6 foot 4, I stand out like the proverbial sore thumb. If I walk through the Plaza del Armas (the main square) everyone comes up to me to show me something or offer me something. I just ignore them or make jokes. I´m learning to dodge them, too. If I see them trying to cut off my path, I change directions. I kind of have to turn it into sort of a game. If I listened to every spiel that was offered me, that´s all I´d do here. It´s still not as bad as Jamaica, though. Don´t get me wrong, I´m having a great time. It's just a little sad to watch this beautiful place slowly turn into a kind of Disneyland.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I got a tip for ya kid....don't step on the steaming rock! j/k. your blog is great phil! I like following along on your adventures. Hope you are well!!

1:28 PM  
Blogger Phil said...

Yo Turts,

There are a lot of steaming llama rocks in the hills and valleys of Peru. Haven´t stepped in one yet.

I went to a local restaurant today and it was packed. I got the last table. 3 people came in together looking for a table and I invited them to sit with me. The girl in the group was, I swear, your lost latina sister, or something. Looked very much like you, but darker skin. Anyways. Miss ya´s.

Phil

8:41 PM  

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